Livonia resident Richard Miga wants answers after his mother was moved from Ashley Court of Livonia to another nursing home Wednesday afternoon.

He began receiving calls just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, alerting him his mother would be moved from the facility to another one. He was at Ashley Court Thursday morning picking up her belongings, including a recliner he strapped into his trunk.

“I was down in Detroit on the phone when I found out,” he said. “They told me when I was there that I could come here today and pick up the rest of her stuff.

“I’m looking for responsibility.”

The facility at 32406 Seven Mile in Livonia had its license suspended Wednesday by the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, requiring it to close down by 6 p.m. that night, just hours later. That left all the residents, many of them with Alzheimer’s, without a place to stay.

The facility did not have any patients at it Thursday morning, just employees around the grounds and some family members picking up their loved ones’ things.

Repeated violations

The order to shut the several buildings of the facility down, which was signed by Jay Calewarts, the division director of the adult foster care and camps licensing division in the Bureau of Community and Health Systems, indicates several incidents that the agency felt required “emergency action,” including an incident that took place on April 26 that resulted in an 88-year-old patient being dropped and hitting her face on an end table.

It is also alleged her briefs were not changed regularly. A guardian of the woman told an investigator the patient’s undergarments were soiled and had not been changed regularly, including one day where the soiled undergarment had not been changed for 10 hours.

Another incident involved an 86-year-old female patient who had fallen in her bedroom at midnight Feb. 4 and was not attended to by staff until 6 a.m. that morning. She suffered circulation and kidney damage, as well as bruising. Security footage showed staff members that night did not check on any residents and falsified documentation that stated they had.

A state fire marshal inspector had conducted safety inspections on several occasions, and repeatedly found violations in the facility. After an inspection on May 3 found 12 deficiencies, the inspection report called for a fire safety disapproval be issued.

“Due to the serious nature of the above violations and the potential risk they represents (sic) to vulnerable adults in Licensee’s care, emergency action is required,” the order reads. “Licensee is hereby notified that the license to operate an adult foster care large group home is summarily suspended.”

Relocating patients

The Bureau of Community and Health Systems is working with the Michigan Adult Protective Services to help with resident relocation, according to a LARA spokesman.

An employee who answered the phone at the facility Thursday morning said there wasn’t anything she could say in response to the shutdown.

“There’s not much we can say,” she said.

Miga later found out his mother was taken to a facility in Detroit Wednesday. He said she’s been there for about a year, moving in after examining costs and deciding it was the best option. Now, he’s looking for a new home for her, where costs are much higher.

“That’s the environment we find ourselves in,” he said. “This is wrong. There is so much wrong here.”

Various agencies who care for seniors were at the facility Thursday morning to share information, including The Senior Alliance, a private, nonprofit agency based in Wayne.

Dan West, president of the Livonia Chamber of Commerce, said there are several facilities that are members of the chamber who specialize in patients with memory impairments, including Arden Courts, Woodhaven Retirement Community and Brighton Gardens of Northville.

“It was heartbreaking to see what those families and their loved ones went through on Wednesday,” he said.